Blog

Film. Photography. Journalism.

A photographer's journey: Niall McDiarmid's Crossing Paths

It's been a while since I did one ofthese. It's also been two days now since I posted my latest video in the series, so I thought I'd better write a quick post about it too.
I spoke to Niall well over a year ago about doing a short video about his work. We initially wanted to release different video which we shot over a couple of weekends in early 2012. But in the summer of 2012 Niall thought it would be better to focus on Crossing Paths first, an idea I really loved as I had been a huge fan of his street portraits.

We ended up taking an impromptu trip to Portsmouth and then on to the Isle of Wight.

No rigs, sliders or steadicams. And no (official) script. (Yes, you can call it guerrilla filmmaking if you wish.) We hoped to replicate Niall's walks which had previously yielded some great pics and all we really wanted was to meet some colourful characters who would not only make a good video, but also end up being Niall's subjects. And we did.

Niall's ability to spot interesting characters, start a conversation with them and convince them to pose for camera is probably what makes his Crossing Paths project so unique. And while not all people we met that day made it into the film - or the upcoming book - they all were happy to pose for Niall. With one exception - a rather innocent looking middle-aged man who seemed to be harbouring a dark secret, and who gave us both the creeps.

It was a fantastic experience and if you haven't seen Niall's images yet - where have you been?!